'Kibrist'tan Sevgilerle'

via DJ Magos

And now for something completely contemporary

'Varosha (Disco Debris) [Explicit]' by Yannis Kyriakides.
 According to this website, the track samples the following 70s Turkish pop songs: 'Gençlik Šarkisi (Haydi Gençlik Hop Hop) - Erol Büyükburç; Olmaz Böyle Šey – Yesim; Unutama Beni - Esmeray; Senden Baska - Füsun Onal;* Küçük Kiz - Ayça Ve Elma Sekerleri; Beyaz Ev (La [sic] Casa d’Irene) - Erkut Tackin;** Arkadaš - Melike Demirag'

The same album's fourth track, titled 'The one hundred words' uses the traditional φωνή 'Ekatollogia' (this [starting near 23:19],*** already posted here [before the ERT archives closed down and reopened]). This was also used in an installation by Yiannis Christofides titled 'Love me Tender':



And to go back to the blog's usual modus operanti, there's a Cretan song that uses the theme of 'Εκατόν λόγια'



* This is a version of Χατζιδάκης' 'Μίλησε μου'.

** A version of the Italian pop song A Casa d' Irene.

*** Note that this version, unlike the two recorded versions from the Peloponesian Folklore Foundation's album, includes a 'millomeni' story about the beloved's sojourn into a church where her clothes drop revealing a naked bossom and scandalising the clerics doing the liturgy:

εμπήκεν μες την εκκληshιάν ν'ανάψει το jερίν της
j'εξηκουμπιάστην καζακάς j'εφάνην το βυζίν της

παπάς το είδεν j'έλαβεν, θκιάκος jαι προυμουττίστην
jαι τα μικρά θκιακόπουλλα εχάσαν το ψαλτήριν.

Unfortunately the recording is interrupted by a voiceover about Seferis, commenting on the Cypriots' Greekness.

Γιασεμίν / Ha Yasmin

Two different songs about the same flower, side by side.

Same melody, different scale?

It's already been mentioned, but let's have it again: here in its Asia Minor version (Στη σμύρνη μες την Αρμενιά) the song is almost identical to the Cypriot version, though the melody is in sabâ makamı



In the Cypriot version (Αγάπησα την που καρθκιάς) it sounds more like a Western minor scale.


In this forum discussion, the speculative explanation attributes the change to the limited melodic capacities of the tsambouna.

A more sinister link might be drawn here with the de-turkification of music under the Metaxas dictatorship's censorship, with 'oriental'-sounding scales ('τα μπεμόλια') being replaced with Western minor scales (see e.g. this article which discusses Tsitsanis' mention of the subject).

Bu aklu fikr ile

It's already been noted that the song Loulla mou maroulla mou has a melody that's similar to those found in Asia Minor and the Aegean islands.

There's also some similarity with this sufi hymn (Ilahi), written by the 12th-13th century poet Yunus Emre.

Ξηροστεριανό νερό

Continuing from this one. (via I.)

On more food

The Ottoman food map covers koupepia, 'cypriot' coffee, ouzo and zivania, houmoi, etc.

You can also listen to the relevant interview on the Ottoman history podcast (which, by the way, is also an excellent source on the music of the region).



(See also previous entry here: http://cypromusicology.blogspot.com/2012/06/meze.html)

Τσιάττισμα, Atışma, etc

There's a lot more to say about this type of poetic dueling that is now protected as part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO. E.g. one could think of it in comparison to 'battle rap'. Or, closer to home, to the type of competition, usually between Ashiks called 'Atışma' (interchangeable with the term Deyişmə in Azerbaijan).

finale

This was supposed to be the finale of the blog (written when it started in 2011). Since then among other things, the ERT archives closed and re-opened, while the blog went on, and on:

From the tshiattisman (here)

'ανάθθεμαν την μάναν σου που σ' έφερεν στον γάμον
j' είαν σε τα μματούθκια μου τζιαι ζάφτιν δεν τα κάμνω'

to the Violaris family's Eurovision trial:

'μια κυπριοπούλλα
με θκιό μμάθκια laser
έκρουσεν τα ούλλα
έρεξεν j' εθέρησεν

εν η μάνα μου που φτέει
εν η μάνα μου που φτέει που με 'πήρεν εκκληshιάν'

Instruments: The Cümbüş

(Via https://twitter.com/Cyprus_Pictures/status/426739251980410880/photo/1)

'The Monsieur Doumani Documentary'

[Note that what's mentioned about 'Το σύστημαν' at around 5:30-7:00 adds to the discussion in the blog here.]

R.I.P. Pete Seeger

Vietnamese version of the song 'Oh my Darling Clementine' with Pham Duy. Known in Cyprus through its appropriation by EOKA. [Starts at 34:16.]